


The Town That Never Was.

by things-we-used-tc-share (Heavydirtys0ul)



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Mature warning for some smut scenes that will occur later in the fic, Remus is like a minor character and he's hilarious, Welcome to Night Vale inspired Sanders Sides fic, changed my mind, non nsfw version posted to things-we-used-tc-share, nsfw scenes are going to be added as like an extra story in a series, per usual gotta cater to the monsterfuckers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-22 03:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heavydirtys0ul/pseuds/things-we-used-tc-share
Summary: In Hell, a town of roughly 1,000 people, nothing that is supposed to happen ever happens and everything that physically should happen, does. Logan, a scientist, goes there in hopes of studying the world’s most unfortunate, and miraculous, town. But no one who ever enters ever finds the will to leave again.





	1. The man who can see everything and the scientist from normality

**Author's Note:**

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_Synopsis: “Welcome to Hell, literally, that’s the name of this place. America’s most singularly, scientifically fucked town, where everything that shouldn’t happen, definitely does happen,” The man grins, all three eyes blinking. Logan blinks back, opens his mouth, and then decides he doesn’t have any words in his extensive vocabulary to explain this._

* * *

Logan has a habit that mostly includes acting first and thinking about his safety a few hours later, usually when he has a burned hand or a broken bone, and then it’s followed by a “Worth it!” as he accepts his own recklessness in favour of _science_. Today is one of those reckless days. Well, so far it’s been a reckless week (and a reckless life), as he’s been driving for about four days now.

He sees the “Welcome to Hell,” sign that has been overgrown by an abundance of tree roots despite the fact there are no trees for miles. The blue-eyed scientist sighs to himself absently as he gets the foreboding feeling that the next week of his life, should things go the way he plans, is going to be a series of these events and as it stands he has been driving far too long to hop out of his car near sunset to run tests on tree roots that should not exist. 

The sun is, by the way, setting far too early for this time of year. 

As he gets within the town’s boundaries, his car radio fizzles and automatically tunes into the suddenly only available radio station; Logan assumes this is harmless and simply listens to the soft indie beats that are now playing with no issue. The sky; where the sun is setting, is painted in a brilliant red, whilst the sun itself looks to be a somewhat magnificent ball of fire (which, of course, it _is_, but it doesn’t usually look literally as a ball of fire, you know, the kind when some idiot in class decides to bring a lighter to school and sets the waste paper bin on fire? yeah, _that_ sort of fire). There are tall, black pylons everywhere, and the buildings seem old and are either wooden or Greek, which is interesting because as far as Logan knows, the ancient Greeks never _quite_ got to America, yet these buildings certainly seem very old. Impossibly old. 

He already has an infinitesimal amount of questions, and he’s aware that (as warned) that small pile is going to grow over the course of his stay here. 

The music stops playing and a voice tunes in over the static waves of the radio _“Welcome back listeners,” _The dulcet, deep tones rumble against Logan’s ears and if voices could be a point of attraction then Logan would say this is an attractive voice. _“A special welcome to the** mildly** ominous white economical car that just rolled into town full of what appears to be an impressive amount of science equipment, I don’t know who you are but you are apparently quite handsome, so I’m certainly hoping I’ll know who you are at some point,” _Logan flushes a little and as if the radio presenter could see him, he chuckles. _“We’ll run into each other at some point, anyway, to the regular listeners this is your **usual **news on the town,” _

Logan pulls up outside the place he had booked to stay but as he turns off the car he can’t help but lean back to listen to the radio presenter some more._ “The sun is on fire, but more so than usual, the police advise you don’t look directly into it, or do, I’m not the boss of you and you can make your own decisions for yourself,”_ Logan snorts a little, shaking his head full of dark curls _“Three strange cult-like figures have appeared in the outskirts of the town, on the west side entrance, they don’t appear to be doing anything but simply standing there, if someone has recently attempted to summon a demon or any otherwise ominous presence, please report it to Roman, our town’s exorcist who will help you deal with this problem, unfortunately until he knows exactly what they are, there is nothing he can do to help, thank you Roman, for being as **useless** as ever,” _

The scientist laughs then and finally turns off the radio, grabbing his bag out of the back amongst a whole load of gadgets as he walks up to the front door. He can hear voices on the other side, before the front door is thrown open extravagantly to reveal a young man with unruly dirty blonde curls. Logan, who hadn’t even knocked yet, blinks his blue eyes with a perturbed expression “Hello?”

“Hello!” The stranger replies with a smile a little too wide and hazel eyes a little too bright. “Don’t mind Remy, he turns into a cat when he’s anxious, but come on in!” Logan exhales deeply, cheeks puffing out as he shakes his head. “Oh yes, you’re an outsider, you’re probably not used to_ Hell_ standards of weird, sorry,” The man picks up the cat and places him on top of the counter before he moves around the other side “You’re staying for a week, yes?” 

“That’s the plan,” Logan chuckles “But I’m told plans don’t tend to work out here,” 

“Oh no, they never do, all rooms are booked for at least a month just in case, I’ve added a few extra days on free of charge, we don’t tend to get many visitors so I doubt they’ll go amiss,” The man scans a keycard through the computer system, it fizzes slightly and he hits the side of it before trying again. “There you go, you’re in room 13,” He hands the keycard over “And if you need me just ring,” he taps the phone “Phone number is on the bedside table,”

“Thank you....?”

“Oh! Emile, I’m Emile, that’s Remy, he’s not a cat, he just looks like one right now,” Remy blinks two wide golden eyes at Logan, he does certainly look like a cat. “He should be back to normal when he’s finished having a tantrum,” Remy hisses in response. “Have a nice night!” 

Logan decides that he’s already reaching his limit with weird and he’s only been here maybe half an hour, although his watch has also mysteriously stopped working so there’s no real way to tell. He puts on his pyjamas, climbs into bed and tries to fall asleep. 

It takes him an hour and a half to do so. Roughly.

\--

When he wakes up the next morning, and finishes going through the usual human morning routine, he wanders downstairs to find a man who isn’t Emile sat on the chair behind the desk with headphones on. His name tag read “Remy,” and he’s wearing sunglasses inside. Otherwise he’s completely normal; a worn down leather jacket accompanying a black shirt and ripped jeans, hanging off a man who is of normal height and stature for someone in his early 20′s. 

“Sorry about being a cat when you go here,” Remy pulls an earphone out to speak, chewing on bubblegum as he does “Me and Emile were having a domestic, how is your room?” 

“Adequate,” Logan replies, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly “So the turning into a cat thing is that...genetic?” Remy laughs a little and shakes his head. 

“In what world would that be genetic?” He kicks his feet off of the table and sits up a little straighter “No, it was a curse,” Logan nods slowly, wondering why one is less likely than the other, and then thinking that he doesn’t want to know why because then he would start thinking like a resident here, and that sounds like a nightmare. “We do have an exorcist, and he’s supposed to really be able to dabble in lots of different type of magic, but so far he’s been unsuccessful,” 

The dark-haired scientist recalls the radio presenter from last night “Roman, right?” Remy nods in response. 

The door opens then to let in a bright array of sunshine, and Remy scrunches his nose up in distaste, pushing his sunglasses even further up his nose as if that might have been possible. The man that is silhouetted against the door frame looks too bright, but as he speaks, Logan recognises the deep and soothing tone “Good morning, stranger,” 

The door closes behind him and the man leans against the wall with a wide grin. His skin is tan, a caramel colour with light blonde hair that has been pushed to the side and back, exposing not one, or two...but_ three_ eyes. Logan is starting to regret his journey here and coming here at all, and he is certainly not enjoying the way his own heart thunders in his chest, or the slight warmth to his cheeks. Perhaps it’s the sharp angles of the man’s jaw, the snake skin that covers half of his face, or the deep golden of the snake eye in the middle on his forehead, but this man is...astoundingly beautiful. 

Weird shit, Logan can deal with, feelings? Not at _all_. 

“Welcome to Hell, literally, that’s the name of this place. America’s most singularly, scientifically_ fucked_ town, where everything that _shouldn’t _happen, definitely _does_ happen,” The man grins, all three eyes blinking. Logan blinks back, opens his mouth, and then decides he doesn’t have any words in his extensive vocabulary to explain this. “What brings such a handsome young man to the town?” 

“Science,” Logan mutters. “I came to investigate the town, scientifically this place is fascinating, a hive of energy that exists nowhere else,” He straightens his lab coat and holds up a device that had been in his hand “So far I’ve discovered extremely unusual readings, and...” Logan talks, he explains, and the stranger looks at him with an_ incredibly _dopey look. 

“Uh-huh,” He mutters as the scientist talks extremely enigmatically, all strangeness and shyness forgotten as he loses himself in his interest. 

“Sorry, I didn’t ask what your name was, I don’t think I caught it last night,” The tan-skinned man smiles softly before shaking his head.

“You didn’t,” Logan doesn’t know how he knows this. “My name is Deceit, but most people call me Dee, I run the radio show,” The scientist smiles and nods, offering a hand for him to shake. Deceit practically purred at the contact to his gloved hand; he can’t help it, when someone so pretty comes wandering in, all fair skin and dark hair with such..._enticing_ cobalt eyes, he has to blush a _little_.

But the moment of bliss is interrupted as the door opens again, slamming behind the second newcomer of the morning. Remy, who clearly does not like having visitors, sighs in annoyance and looks up to a dark skinned man with long hair and is..dripping in jewellery. The man is holding a book in his hand and he goes to speak before he looks up, only to see Deceit (in which his gaze turns sour) and then Logan (in which his eyebrow quirks, a slow smirk crosses his face and the book snaps shut in his hand). “Remy,” The stranger has an accent that sounded to be somewhat partially American. “You have a visitor?” 

The cat like man sighs “It would appear I have quite a few,” He unplugs the other earphone and tosses them on the table “What do you want, Roman? I told you at this point this curse isn’t that bad, plus Emile finds it harder to shout at me when I’m knee high to a grasshopper and fluffy,” 

_That would be some sound logic, _Logan thinks to himself, _if he were not talking about turning into a cat_. “That’s fine, there is clearly someone much more interesting to talk to,” The elegant man holds out a hand and wears a grin that is almost a little too revealing. 29 years of not being flirted with and today it happens twice one straight after another. 

“As if your two boyfriends weren’t enough Roman, you hop on the poor fresh meat like he’s dessert,” Deceit cuts in, a displeased look on his face as he folds his arms across his chest.

“He certainly_ looks_ like dessert,” Roman retorts. Logan thinks blushing is going to become a hobby whilst he’s here, and looks over at Remy for help. 

“Dee don’t you have a radio show to host? Roman, don’t you have a demon to maintain? Logan I have no idea what you’re here to do but I’m sure it’s more than being the ruler in a dick-measuring contest between two insufferable assholes,” There’s a beat. Roman has the audacity to blush as if he hadn’t been saying some fairly explicit things by Logan’s standards, but a moment ago. 

“Oh well I’m here too...”

“Logan, dear, you’re cute, but I spent an entire night as a cat, and my better half, who is _by the way_ all of my patience and will to listen to other people, is at work, right now I’m as bitchy as I can get, please don’t try and explain to me science _unless_ it’s the science of how to make a coffee so strong my heart will stop,” Remy’s glasses slide down his nose, revealing two bright gold cats eyes, and they narrow as they stare at Logan. “All of you, _out,_”

“I’ll bring you a coffee, Rem,” Roman mutters as he starts towards the door. 

“Thanks Roman,” He doesn’t sound very thankful at all. 

\--

Roman offers to show Logan around town, he asks about the device in the scientist’s hand but anything he says is completely lost on the bejewelled man. Who is, by the way, wearing a _lot _of jewellery. His hands are covered in rings that have thin chains hanging from them, connecting to bracelets or each other. His nose, lip and eyebrows are pierced twice and the entire left side of his ear has small chins hanging off of them. 

He looks like a prince. 

“This is the coffee shop, my boyfriends both work here, and they live upstairs too, fair warning, one of them is a demon,” Logan nods a little numbly, unsure what else he was expecting really. Does anything normal happen in this town at all? 

They walk in to see a scrawny and sickly pale man behind the counter, to the point where Logan would worry about anaemia until he saw the veins that were completely oynx running underneath the skin. The demon, then. “Welcome to Hell’s Pat-isserie, what may I get you?” His voice sounds bored, but then he looks up and sees Roman and his face lights up. 

“Just a Latte please,” Logan smiles nervously. 

_**“That will be the cost of your soul please,”**_ The demon’s voice darkens and shakes like lightning, Logan has to admit he felt a slight spike of fear before both the pale man and Roman start laughing.

“Virgil I keep telling you to stop doing that!” Logan looks up an inhales sharply by what he’s greeted with. A man, with soft, freckled cheeks and a round face that has so clearly smiled so much, bounces up with stray blonde curls falling around his face. He bats a tea towel at the demon (Virgil, Logan assumes), before fixing Logan with a wide and blinding smile.

Blushing is indeed becoming a hobby. 

“Roman, you’re late, help me with the coffee machine won’t you love? It’s jammed again the stupid bloody thing,” The man’s voice is as soft as his appearance dictates, and he hands the tea towel to Roman, who vaults over the counter to help. Then his attention focuses on Logan and he’s not entirely sure his heart can handle those pale blue eyes. “Sorry about these two, they’re a handful, just a Latte was it? That’ll be $3.50,” Logan hands over the money with a dazed expression. As he’s handed his change, he can’t resist asking.

“What’s your name?” 

“Patton, you?”

“Logan,” Patton smiles again, and Logan can’t help but liken it to the first flowers blooming in spring, and other cheesy metaphors that people come up with when they think about love at first sight. 

“Well, Logan, take a seat, and we’ll bring your coffee over shortly,” A pause “And thanks for keeping Roman out of trouble, it’s practically his day job,” 

The scientist can’t help but absently think he’d hold back an inconclusive amount of danger to see Patton smile again. Then he reminds himself that he, a scientist, does not think such trivial things, and that he has a job to do; even if the rate of his own heart around these men is the strangest thing that has happened to him since he arrived in Hell.


	2. Hooded Figures and Kidnapping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hooded figures finally stop standing still, and Roman has to figure out how to save Patton from a house with no entrance after he’s kidnapped by them.

_“Good evening listeners,”_ Logan listens to Deceit talk over the radio as he taps away at his laptop, enjoying the filled silence of the smooth baritone voice as he works. _“As you may or may not have heard, the hooded, cult-like figures have finally left the outskirts of the town, now before you let out a relieved sigh I have to warn that they are now roaming the streets,” _

The scientist looks up at the crackling radio as he takes his laptop off of his lap, instead wandering over to the window to pull the heavy curtains to the side just a crack. His cobalt eyes scan the dark streets and true to Deceit’s word, there are hooded figures roaming the streets. _“I understand this may be unnerving so please remember the protocol for mysterious cult like figures roaming the streets, lock your door and windows, stay away from their line of sight, and Patton? **Try **not to get kidnapped again, if anyone sees Patton trying to offer the mysterious hooded figures cake, **please** stop him,” _

Logan snorts to himself, before locking the door to his room. He resumes his work, sitting back down on the bed so that only the creak of bed springs, the sound of the radio, and the tapping of keys fill the quiet air.

\--

The dark-haired scientist wakes up the next morning with his laptop on standby and half tucked up his arm, glasses pressed against his face. He sighs and straightens himself up with a crack of his back, wincing once he realises the awkward position he’d slept in had left much of his body in stiff pain. Logan’s feet hit the carpeted floor and a yawn ghosts his lips as he rummages through his wardrobe for some clothes.

The usual morning routine ensues, and is far too boring to record but you understand; shower, brushing teeth, getting clothes on, leaving. The _normal _human and humanoid things.

Logan is holding a device in one hand that whirs ever so slightly as two discs spin on it’s surface. Nobody gives him a weird look for this device and for the most part people don’t really notice. There are simply much weirder things currently happening, or previously had happened, than a man in his late twenties wearing a casual lab coat whilst wandering the streets with a device that makes strange noises.

It pings loudly, causing him to fiddle with the device and stare up at a large building beside him that looks ever so slightly ominous; the windows aren't there, for starters, there are lines where windows _should_have been and the brickwork looks like it’s rotting, if brick could rot in the same fashion that food does. The scientist pauses, grabs his notebook and scribbles something down. “What are you doing?” He hears a slight hiss behind him.

Whirling around he sees Deceit, whose three eyes are wide in shock as he grabs the notebook and pushes it back into Logan’s pocket “Are you trying to get arrested on your second day?”

“_Arrested?_”

“Writing,” Deceit continues “Is writing not illegal on the outside?” Logan stares at him as though he’d grown an extra head to accommodate the three eyes. Deceit sighs “Look, for the most part you can get away with it in your home, just checked it isn’t bugged, you never know when you’re being watched here,” He glances around but there are no eyes on them. “Come and grab a coffee with me, and I’ll tell you more,”

“Okay,” Logan’s expression is an amusing mix of blank and on the brink of a mental breakdown as he digests the fact you can’t _write _here. “Wait, so hooded cult-like figures are normal and writing is...illegal?” He hurries to keep up with the tall man as he walks in long strides, his baggy mustard-coloured silk shirt blowing in the breeze as he does so. Mentally, Logan thinks that Deceit may be the only person who can wear mustard anything and still look _ridiculously _attractive.

“Yes,” Deceit replies plainly, as if stating that water is wet.

“Right,’ It isn’t the first time he’s sighed in disbelief since he’s gotten here, but Logan gets the feeling it won’t be the last either. The two walk in silence beside each other, or rather Logan speed walks to keep up with the other man, whose legs alone should be illegal (And not because they look amazing in the leather pants he’s currently wearing, more because they’re _so _long and he walks _so_ fast).

When they get to the cafe however, there is an astounding lack of Patton there and by the way Virgil and Roman are arguing, one can assume something had gone horribly wrong. Deceit’s presence definitely seemed to make things worse, as Roman’s eyes flash with fury the moment the two walk through the door. “You,” He points with a voice that sounds like thunder.

“Me?” Is the snake-like man’s reply, holding a hand up to his chest in mock surprise “What could I have _possibly _done now?” Roman’s mouth opens and closes in response, as if too furious to articulate how he’s feeling at all. Virgil rolls his eyes.

“Can you do that thing you do?” The demon cuts in, being remarkably calm considering his species are quite literally infamous for being the definition of _‘fury’. _Like you’d open a dictionary and instead of a definition of fury it’ll be a badly drawn demon. “Patton’s gone missing again,” Yes, evidently. Patton certainly seems naive enough to land himself in egregious amount of trouble on any given occasion. Or perhaps he is simply _willing _enough to get into trouble. “Can you see him?”

Logan looks up at Deceit, who sighs heavily and closes two of his eyes; it’s here the young man realises that his third eye doesn’t seem to close ever, not even to blink. Now, the slitted golden orb stares emptily into nothingness but Dee’s expression twists in a way that tells Logan that the eye on his forehead doesn’t see what’s physically in front of him. More like something beyond sight of the present and _**here**_.

“He’s been kidnapped,” Deceit mutters “By the hooded figures,” He opens his eyes “I can’t see where they’ve taken him, they must be using some form of mental block, if I were you I’d work on seeing what these people are,” The tallest runs a hand through his hair; which seems to have changed colour from golden to a more caramel-ish colour, Logan is somehow only just noticing now. “Anything else you need me to do or can I have a coffee now?” Roman makes a noise at the back of his throat that could be anger or it could be fear, either way, he moves away from the three so Virgil can take their order.

“You’re a science person right?” Virgil leans against the counter, purple eyes blinking absently as he directs his words to Logan, who really doesn’t know how to react when talking to a demon. “Have you found out why this place is the way it is?”

“No,” Logan mutters “Have you?”

“Of course,” Virgil snorts “Now what can I get you?”

“Just a latte please,” Logan watches the man, or whatever the politically correct term is for a demon (Do demons have genders? That might be a question for another day), as he makes the drink, mulling over his words in his head “Would you tell me if I asked?” The purple eyes look up and squint, before a deep laugh rumbles through the shop.

“No, it’s much more fun to watch your little Human brain wrap around it,” Virgil hums “And I do mean that in the politest way possible, however, if you’re not busy today I do believe Roman will need some assistance, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“Oh, of course,I’d love to help,” Logan smiles, but once again it’s a nervous one because, well, he _is _talking to a demon. Deceit sighs.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” The DJ warns, accepting his usual off of Virgil and handing over some money. “I don’t even know how bird-shit-for-brains is still alive,”

“Dee, play nice, he’s already in a bad mood,” Virgil interjects, handing Logan his coffee “He’s still alive because I keep dragging his ass out of unfortunate situations and not even demons want to upset Patton,”

“Yet he keeps getting kidnapped?” Logan presses, a curious look in his eyes. Virgil gives a fond smile, like one would at their partner consistently getting cake mixture on their clothes (Possibly and definitely something that Patton also does). “How come always him?”

“Patton is…kind, stupidly so,” Virgil leans against the counter, black nails tapping against the glazed marble top as he does so. “He can’t stand the idea of people being misjudged and keeps getting himself into a lot of danger because of it, literally never learns, if I weren’t so worried about him I’d _almost _be endeared, Satan knows how he managed to fall in love with us,” He gestures to himself and Roman. “Well, I suppose that is the reason alone,” The demon leans back up “Roman, are you leaving now? Logan’s going with you,” He calls through a door that disappears to what Logan _assumes _is the stock cupboard but could probably be an entrance to another dimension.

Roman walks back out, his satchel over his shoulder as he wanders over to the three of them. “Is he joining us?” He glares pointedly at Deceit, who shakes his head and walks away with the sort of huff that a teenage boy gives when being told to clean his room. Logan finds it cute, if their feud wasn’t already pecking his head in.

“Apparently not,” Virgil fills the silence “Have fun boys, don’t get possessed, or die, especially you Roman I’m going to need you after this extremely long day finishes,” Roman’s dark cheeks flush slightly as he nods, leaning over the counter to exchange a quick kiss with the demon. Then, he gestures to Logan to follow him and wordlessly the scientist obeys, sipping his perfectly warm cup of coffee as he does so.

“So, what is the issue with you and Deceit?” The outside street seems quiet, the sort of quiet that it shouldn’t be at nearly eleven in the morning, most towns are quite busy at this time in fact. But Hell also isn’t _‘most towns,’_

“He’s a snake-faced liar,” Roman muttered “A danger to everyone he meets,” He taps away at his phone “And an all around asshole,”

“Usually when people talk about someone like that they’re very rarely those things, not as a person anyway,” Logan gestures to the house with no windows as they approach it “Also what is this place, it has a lot of energy for somewhere so run down,” Roman looks down at the scientist, before turning to face the house, he blinks a few times before shaking his head.

“I don’t know, it gives me a headache if I stare too long,” Logan stares at it to see if Roman is right, but his head doesn’t feel like he has a headache. “And it’s not run-down, it’s just empty, well empty of Humans anyway,” Roman continues, as Logan pulls out his device from earlier; the same as previously, it pings.

“Do you know if it usually has such high energy signals?”

“Not usually no,” Logan isn’t sure if this response means it doesn’t usually have high-energy signals, or if Roman doesn’t usually _know_. He decides to assume both as he approaches the building and studies the mould. “Sometimes when I look at it, it feels like I shouldn’t be looking at it,” He pauses “Like accidentally seeing someone naked because they haven’t closed the curtains whilst getting changed,” oddly specific, but Logan makes a mental note to close his curtains before he gets changed.

“Usually things like that make me want to look more,” Logan uttered “Not the naked part,” He adds quickly, cheeks flushing “But…in general, when you’re not supposed to do something I almost certainly always want to do it, especially when knowledge is at stake,” His fingers reach out to brush against the black and crumbling stone “No visible entrance or exit, it’s like a dolls house, just…lines marking where windows should be, it’d be a good place to hide someone if you were going to kidnap a person,”

Roman gives him a look that Logan can’t decipher, but it’s a fairly intense look that makes Logan’s heart skip a beat. “So I suppose we should find an entrance?”

“Most certainly,” Logan grins, pocketing the device “I should add I have zero combat skills so if something goes wrong we’re both most certainly going to be in danger,”

“It’s fine I have a sword,” Roman pats his satchel, Logan blinks “Dimensionally transcendental,”

“It’s bigger on the inside?” The shorter man asks in a hushed, excitable voice, eyes widening in a way Roman internally described as ‘adorable,’

“It’s bigger on the inside,” Roman confirms. Logan’s brain squeals and internally he is melting at such scientifically advanced technology “I found it by accident but it’s super helpful most days,” Outwardly, however, Logan just clears his throat, nods and says:

_“Interesting,” _He’s going to have a lot of notes to write down later, that’s for sure. His phone buzzes in his pocket and he finds it is notifying him that the radio is active again, he ignores the notification and starts to walk around the outside of the building, looking for any sort of door. “I get the distinct feeling,” Logan starts as he finds no visible entrance “That someone doesn’t want us in here,”

“Me too,” Roman hums, bending over to pull at a large rope. A door opens up into what looks like an underground tunnel, or sewage system. “I also get the feeling I should not have done my nails today,” He sighs, staring down into the darkness and then to his finely painted blood red nails, they’re too long to be natural, and just looking at them make Logan wince.

“Certainly,” Logan finally says, peering down the ladders that lead into darkness, he can’t tell how far down they go. “If I had to hazard a guess...I’d guess _this_ is our entrance,” He looks up at Roman, who chews the inside of his cheek hesitantly. “Of all the strange things that have happened here, this is the one that scares you?” Logan teases lightly.

“Not exactly,” Roman sighs “Less a fear of the dark and more of a fear, the same fear every time, every time he goes missing I’m always worried, terrified of how I’ll find him,” the exorcist mutters softly “He’s usually fine, once his kidnapper practically shoved him into my arms and told me to take him, Patton has that effect on evil,”

“Explains Virgil,” Logan mutters, sitting down at the edge and clasping hold of the metal, before swinging his legs down to start his descent. Roman snorts a little and follows after him as they clamber down. It’s actually not that deep, or dark. “Speaking of Virgil,” Logan adds as his feet hit damp concrete, causing a small splash as he does, like when it’s rained and there’s a thin layer of wetness on the ground. “Do you know why this town is the way it is?”

Roman lands next to him with an amount of gracefulness that shouldn’t be given to someone who had just leapt from a metal ladder. “Sort of,” He hums “I know why but I don’t understand it, like how I know what nuclear fission is but I have no idea how it works,”

“I see, and why?”

“Well, look at the clocks,” Roman answers cryptically “Put the pieces together, none of the clocks work in Hell, not a watch, not a phone, not a network, and analogue clocks aren’t even real here all of them are fake,” Logan pauses from their walk, eyes blinking. “Time isn’t real, here it just…doesn’t exist, we’re a scientific fluke,” Logan’s lips part in surprise and he hopes he survives their adventure so he can investigate this further. “The sun doesn’t even set normally, it’s almost as if the moment you enter you leave reality,”

“I see,” Logan whispers, staring ahead into the darkness, a darkness that is dark enough to obscure the distance, but light enough to see. “Nothing makes sense here,” He mutters “It’s wonderful,” Roman laughs beside him and nods in agreement. “So, what _is _it with you and Deceit?” The laughter dies.

“I told you,”

“No you didn’t, you just insulted him and called it an explanation,”

Roman splutters a little before sighing heavily. “Okay fine, considering the fact we have no idea how long we’ll be walking for or if we’ll die,” The tunnel bends a little. “I was an intern at his radio station for a few months,” Roman’s voice seems softer now, nostalgic “What can I say? It was love at first sight, and at first it was amazing,” The man scratches the back of his head, and the tunnel bends again. “We went on a few dates and it was nice, he was so sweet, until…” He trails off “If he’d just told me he wanted to be in an open or poly relationship I wouldn’t have been upset, of course I wouldn’t have been upset, I’m polyamorous myself as you’ve probably realized,” Logan nods, signifying he understands. “But instead he cheated on me,”

“I see,” Logan mutters “That does seem uncomfortable,”

Roman nods in response “And now he won’t stop insulting me all the time, and I guess I’m sort of guilty of that too,” He gives a sheepish smile “And maybe the insulting was in retaliation to me insulting him all the time and maybe I am being over reactive but he hurt me and that’s more important to me than playing nicely for everyone else’s sake,”

“Good,” Logan says firmly, pausing as another ladder comes into view. They stand at the base of it, before Logan looks over at Roman with a look on his face that the taller man can only describe as tender. “That’s the way it should be, forgive him at your own pace, if ever, but never for someone else,” Then his gaze goes upward to where the ladder leads, placing a hand and foot on the metal with a sigh “Well, if we survive that is,”

Roman laughs in response, but the darkness hides the flustered nature of his expression as they both start their ascent.

\--

They stand in what appears to be a living room. A single light hangs from the ceiling and the carpet is black, the walls are _also_ carpet and black, absorbing light like a black hole. Logan hates it, who _**carpets **_a _**wall**_? Out of everything he’s seen in this town this may be the worst, simply a result of disgusting interior decorating but someone _purposefully _carpeted a wall!

_Abysmal_.

They begin to explore the house, finding a wall that has grass growing out of it, another with moss, and most of them carpeted in the same disgusting fashion. Logan swears he can feel the carpet against his feet despite wearing his shoes; and he has decided he does not enjoy this at all. The entire house seems to feel like that feeling you get when you trip and you have a split second where your heart jumps and your eyes widen as you fear hitting the ground; but on repeat.

They search the house until there is only one room left, the door is shut and there doesn’t appear to be any light coming from it but they know well enough that this doesn’t mean there isn’t light. The two men exchange a look, take a deep breath and push the door open to reveal…a room.

Quite what you’d expect to be on the other side of a door, to be honest, a _room_. Oh, but that isn’t the interesting part. No the interesting part and probably the part that should’ve been led with, is _Patton_. He smiles and gives a small wave as he’s apparently not restrained in any way and is in general being very _bad_ at being kidnapped. He’s simply sat there with a flask of tea as the three hooded figures stand around him.

“Hey guys!” The baker says brightly “I got kidnapped again,”

“So we can see,” Logan chuckles, mostly out of disbelief and the rest out of _‘of course he’s okay,’ _He is unsure why his heart unclenches at the sight of the bright and _very _pretty baker unharmed, but he does know that he’s happy to see him happy.

“They were telling me about their plans for world domination, so I asked them if they were hungry and needed a snickers bar,” Patton sips his tea as he stands up “They seemed to relax after the chocolate, and now they’re mostly figuring out how to get back to their dimension,”

“How’s that going?” Roman enquires curiously, forever astounded by Patton’s ability to talk bad guys out of world domination with kindness and chocolate, this is not the first time this had happened; he’s fairly certain it will also not be the last. The baker shakes his head in response and points over his shoulder at the mysterious figures with his thumb.

“Awfully, otherwise they wouldn’t still be here, they’re also not really sure how they got here or where here is, I explained America but they asked which dimension and I replied with ‘I’m not sure,’ I figured Virgil might know but I really like the tea here,” The more Patton talks the more Logan’s heart seems to soften, the freckled cheeks and joyful smile making his heart thud in his chest at a pleasant rhythm. Also the tea Patton is holding is very green, like moss green, and also _lumpy._

“Well, let’s get you back to Virgil then,” Roman laughs shortly. “Is there a way out that isn’t through a sewer?”

\--

_“So, as it turns out the hooded figures are actually of another dimension,” _Deceit purrs through the microphone, an hour later _“And if not for the bravery of the absolutely stunningly handsome Logan, and Roman, you know, the town’s exorcist, then perhaps sweet Patton would never have been returned to us,” _There’s a beat_ “And probably of his own free will for that matter,”_

Half way across town, Patton, Logan, Roman and Virgil sat listening to the radio as the café closed for the day. Roman snorts at Deceit’s commentary, a fond smile on his lips just for a moment before he remembers to wipe it off. “It’ll never settle with me that he can just see things,” Patton sighs as the voice continues to talk through the speaker.

“So he can _see_ everything that is happening?” Logan asks tentatively, the way someone asks a question that they really don’t want the truthful answer too.

“He can see everything that_ has_ happened, that _will_ happen and _is _happening,” Virgil sits down next to Logan and sips on his coffee as he speaks “It was a gift of sorts, from birth, he was a wishing child,”

“A what?” The scientist looks dumbfounded and most people who aren’t from Hell, or Ireland, would be. After all fairy godmothers are a thing of stories in most places in the world.

“A wishing child,” The demon continues “When two people cannot conceive a child here they ask or…pray for one, they leave an offering in the woods about seven miles south of here, and if their wish is granted they’re given a child,” Logan looks ready to tear his hair out at the absurdity of that, but patiently, he listens. “But often wishing children come out…_wrong_, cursed or gifted in some way, like Remy, he turns into a cat, imagine being his mother she must’ve had a field day when her baby turned into a kitten,”

“That is _deeply _disturbing, also do you not have surrogacy here?” The stranger to these stories asks in disbelief, because honestly some of the problems these people make for themselves would be so easy to fix.

“It’s illegal, mostly because the police think wishing children are funnier to have around,” Jesus Christ. “Anyway, that’s what Deceit is, snakeskin and the ability to see all of time at once, it must be so busy inside his head,”

“Also he has six arms,” Roman adds “But they only come out when needed,” By the wicked grin on his face, Logan reminds himself to_ never _ask what he means by that.

“I wonder why he was keeping tabs on you in the first place,” Patton interjects. He is of course, referring to the fact that Deceit had reported the story the moment they were all safely back inside the café, and Virgil and Roman had returned the cloaked figures to their own dimension.

“He probably just wanted an inside scoop,” Roman shrugs.

Deceit, on the other side of the town in his radio station, watching the conversation through one open eye, feels his heart twinge a little. _No, _he thinks to himself, _I just wanted to know you were all okay_.


	3. The forest and it's voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious forest has appeared on the outskirts of Hell, Dee warns people not to enter but Logan, being a scientist and having zero self-preservation skills, does not listen.

_"Good evening listeners,"_ The radio crackles in the reception of the bed and breakfast owned and ran by Remy Picani and his husband with benefits (benefits include being loved devoutly and also evening cups of coffee being made for him), Emile. The owner, whose black combat boots are resting on the desk whilst the glow of the computer illuminated his peaceful expression, has his eyes closed and is paying little to no attention to anything except the voice coming in through the radio; as is most of Hell at this time (both in this dimension and the sixth). Sitting across the room on a couch that had mysteriously appeared one day, is Logan, tapping furiously on a laptop as he listens to the news. _"As some of you may have noticed, a forest has appeared outside of our little town," _

Logan's tapping ceases and Remy opens his eyes, both looking at each other and then rolling their eyes in sync. Logan gestures loosely for Remy to turn up the radio and the other man does. Remy is enjoying the quiet company enough to do as he's told, given that Logan is the only resident here except for Emile (and Emile is currently busy typing up his notes from his clients), also the wi-fi is faster in the reception which is why Logan is downstairs in the first place. _"I would recommend, listeners, that you do **not** go into the forest, in fact, try to ignore it's existence all together because I am getting some **uncomfortable** vibes from it,"_ '_He's seen inside it,'_ Logan thinks to himself, but the urge to wander inside the mysterious forest is almost primal.

_'Maybe in the morning,'_ he considers to himself.

"You're going to go in the forest aren't you?" Remy asks, feet up, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed again "I thought you were going to be the only sane one in this town," The cat-like man continues, not waiting for Logan's response because he already knows the answer "I'm glad you're not, because you would have gone truly insane," Logan chuckles softly in response, before nodding in agreement. Yes, he truly would have. 

* * *

Logan goes to the forest in the morning just after sunrise. Currently he's stood at the edge of it and listening to it...talk, it whispers to him and the sound feels like the feeling you get when your best friend hugs you so tight that you struggle to breathe for a second. Suffocating, but in a beautiful sort of way. He stares up at the tall trees that hadn't been there this time yesterday, holding his hand-held energy detector and a life monitoring device in the other and right now...this forest is full of life. Not Human energy signals but ones just as strong, as powerful. This entire forest is alive with it's own beating heart and that terrifies Logan.

And, of course, entices him.

The trees reach into the sky and silhouettes the pink morning sky, the sun almost blocked from the scientist's view as he takes his first step into the somehow darker forest. The ground feels real and feels firm. The soil is soft but not wet or muddy, it even seems fitting for the climate as it's a little dry. The soil looks and feels fresh as though it were not housing a forest but someone's small cacti; so little makes sense and Logan is thrilled to try and figure out how to make it make sense.

His plan is just to collect a few samples and run a few tests on the rocks and soil, that's _his_ plan. The forest's plan may not have the same lines, not that he knows this yet, but he will. Oh he _will_.

* * *

"Have any of you heard from Logan?" Remy asks at almost nine at night "He didn't come back," There's a small pause before the feline man continues "Also why are you still open when the sun is setting?" The rest of the coffeeshop, which was just Roman, Patton and Virgil, exchange looks and then shrug because they also don't know why they're still open bar the strange need to remain open. Sometimes life is just like that, things happen when they're not meant too and people feel things without any reason to do so. 

"We haven't seen him today," Roman fills in the silence that had descended amongst them, filled only by awkward shuffling as they all look at each other as a prompt to speak. "Do you want a coffee?" He adds, still unsure why they hadn't closed shop and even more unsure why they were the only four there but_ then_ decides not to think too hard about it. He doesn't wait for Remy to respond as he makes him a to-go cup full, because Remy always wants coffee and none of them are sure he actually _ever_ sleeps (Even Remy himself is unsure he sleeps more than once a month, he thinks that _maybe_ he slept a few nights ago). 

The coffee is handed over and the sleepless man sighs "I should probably go look for him, he went into the forest," 

"Oh he is not coming back," Virgil, their wonderful resident demon snorts lightly, "Have you seen that thing, there are more demons in it than there are in Hell, the proper one...not this one," Roman elbows him in the side gently, and in response he gets bared needle-sharp teeth and narrowed eyes. Roman quirks and eyebrow and reaches to scratch the other behind the ears which has it's usual effect (which is that Virgil melts against him with a purring-like sound escaping from deep in his belly), Remy rolls his eyes at them whilst swearing to himself that he and Emile are _not_ that cute (they are).

"We'll help you look for him!" Patton beams, his heart too big for his body as usual. 

"We will?" Virgil and Roman reply in unison, before saying more firmly "We will," now without the question and _still_ in unison. Another silence before Patton clears his throat and grabs the keys off the counter and twirling it around his fingers as he herds the other men out of the shop like a shepherd, waving his hands in a universal sign of "shoo" which really says all anyone needs to know about Patton's relationships. 

That is to say that you don't disagree with Patton, not out of fear although he can be terrifyingly kind and sweet, but because there's an unending respect for the man. And if he says to do something, then you do it without question. Especially Roman and Virgil, who are so devotedly in love with him and trust him to no end, that he could say "Let's go in the terrifying forest," And they will respond with "Yes, sure!" 

Remy is just _bored_. Nothing spells "Time to get in life threatening situations," like boredom does, especially for a man who does not, who cannot sleep.

"Have any of you got the radio station?" Patton asks, Virgil lifts his phone in a response that says he's already on it; this isn't out of a hobby but because when you're in danger the one person to listen to is Dee. He sees all and knows all and is probably _not_ very happy with them right now. As the noise crackles through his headphones, the demon snorts lightly and waves the dimly lit screen to them. 

"He's not very happy with us right now," The sound of music follows a moment later, so Dee has gone to the weather and Roman's phone rings. 

"You're going into the forest?" They all hear Dee's voice, which is four or five pitches higher than usual and heavy with fear "Don't go in the forest Roman it's not **_safe!_**" They all exchange glances with each other and they stand still as the exorcist rubs his temple with some distress. "Yeah I know I shouldn't be spying on you but in my defence I was spying on the forest and you're stood right at the edge of it," They look up, they are, but they don't remember walking to the other side of town. Remy sips his coffee as Patton shifts in discomfort whilst Virgil shivers. 

Either Humans or...Human-ish Human's, have taken their toll on his ability to be a fearful person, or it's a bad sign when the Demon is _scared_.

"Logan's in there," Roman mutters gently "He helped me get to Patton when he'd been kidnapped I can't just leave him in there," His voice is sincere though shaking, he's scared but that's nothing new, Roman is ninety percent being afraid and his bravery comes not from an absence of such emotions, but doing the things that need to be done despite them. "We need to help him Dee," There's a low pause, the phone goes quiet but Roman can hear talking between him and someone else.

"Stay there, I'm coming with you," And then the line goes dead. 

When the radio comes back online, an intern announces their name and that they're taking over the radio for a little while whilst Dee does some fieldwork. Fifteen minutes later the three-eyed man is by their side, hair ginger today and a_ little_ curly, but it matches his gold shirt well. Roman knows that Dee's hair just...does that and that he doesn't dye it but sometimes he has to wonder if people ask the snakelike man if he does go through the trouble of dying his hair each dye. And giving it an entirely new texture.

"He's really far in," Dee announces the moment they're all together "We've got to stay together and do not separate under any circumstance," Patton grabs both Virgil and Roman's hands, whilst Remy gives a mildly affronted look and a "Thanks Patton," before his coffee cup hits the ground and he transforms fluidly into a cat, hopping up onto Patton's shoulder. It's _entirely_ possible that his claws dig in a little and it's _entirely_ possible this is on purpose as repayment for the obvious hierarchy that has been established. Roman looks at Dee hesitantly before holding out his hand.

Deceit definitely does _not_ blush when he takes it.

"No matter what the forest tells you we find Logan and we get him out, understood?" Dee stares into the mists of the now pitch-black forest, at it's branches that look like fingers trying to grasp any livings creatures, at the cracked shadows that _almost_ breathe. He stares like he's seeing something the others are not and they know that he is, but they most certainly do _not_ want to know what. And what will the forest tell them?

They're unsure why before they've even entered there's an eternal dread that seems everlasting; as though it had been there their entire lives and would be there for the rest of it, the dread feels like cold breath on the back of their necks or a cold hand running down their spines, but when they turn to look behind them there is nothing there at all. Roman swallows nervously as he presses forward and Remy makes a low hiss at the trees. Virgil is a quiet sort of anxious, but a small cloud is hovering above his head that dictates he is very, very afraid of this forest for reasons that are best left unsaid until they're out of it. 

"This way," Dee mutters, his two normal eyes closed as he's led by his third gaze, a gaze into the more and the everything and the nothing. Mostly the everything, but right now he wishes it was nothing. His face turns to stone as he walks, his pace quickening and the other's know without asking that something is very wrong. If there had been daylight they may have noticed the way the branches move like hands waving, or the way the roots snaked towards them as they pass. 

_"Your eyes, your eyes,"_ the trees hiss to Deceit _"Leave, leave now, you are not welcome here, you are **not!"**_ But he doesn't listen, mutely in his own head he tells them if they hadn't wanted him here they should not have taken his friend. The others are hearing different words, tailored to themselves and suddenly, Patton stops and freezes. He looks around, hands parting from theirs with a panicked look on his face. Like he can't see them.

"Guys?" He whispers "Where...where'd you go?" 

"We're right here Patton," Roman says clearly, waving a hand in front of Patton's face...but his eyes, now glassy, remain unseeing and _terrified_. "Pat?" He takes his lover's hand but it's jolted away as the baker _screams_ in fear, shaking his head as he whirls around. He's shaking and tears are trailing over his freckled cheeks, curls sticking to his face as his breathing becomes laboured.

"I don't know where I am, it's so bright, please don't hurt me," The forest shivers a little, unused to un-greedy souls in it's presence. The branches whisper to each other in a tongue no one understands.

_"Is he pure?" _

_"He is!" _

_"It's been so long,"_ They whisper to each other, in their conversation and Deceit looks up at the leaves and tunes his sight to his ears to look through every language that ever has existed and ever will. He knows what this forest is so once he hears the conversation he also understands what they're discussing.

"He's not what you want, he's not what you need," The DJ announces, the hushes whispers ceased as they listen "And you can't have me because I can quite literally see right through you, and you can't have Virgil because he's already one of yours," The trees seem to recoil a little "Give us back our friend and I'll leave you in peace but I'll burn every single one of you to the ground before I let you hurt him, any of them," Roman's jaw tenses a little as he looks over at the man he used to love and for once sees that man, not the one who hurt him although of course they are one in the same. But before that, the smile and the bravery and the eccentricities, that..._that_ man he'd fallen in love with. But if he ever forgives Deceit it will be because of the man who hurt him first and foremost, not a glimmer of hope in a desperate time.

The trees _move_.

Their roots push out of the dirt and they move away from them like they are _walking_, forming a pathway in their wake. Deceit's eyes close. There is no deceiving a man who who epitomises lying with a name that _he_ chose. Finally, he nods, and looks back at Patton whose eyes are zoning back into the present. Once he sees Roman and Virgil he flings himself back into their arms. Remy, who is still seated on Patton's shoulders, gives a near-Human look of disbelief that once again he'd been forgotten about. "Thank you," Deceit utters. There's no thanks in his tone.

They start along the pathway again, Roman's grip on Deceit and Patton more intense than before and finally...they find him. 

Logan looks tired. He looks exhausted and weary and every other lonesome and terrified adjective that sums up 'sleepy' but in a more foreboding sense. His hair is ruffled and dirt is clinging to his skin and clothes; he's lying on the ground with the roots of a tree unfurling from around his frail body. But when he sees the other's his tiredness seeps away and he smiles in his own little grin, scared maybe...but ecstatic? _Definitely_. Deceit feels something right at the core of his chest thud at that smile and a relief like tsunami crash over him; he cannot help but drag Logan into a hug, in which the scientist lets out a soft 'oof' and then smiles more against his skin. "This place is insane," He whispers. 

"I did warn you," Deceit replies. "Now lets get out of here,"

* * *

"So...what was the forest?" Logan had gone upstairs to have a shower whilst Patton, Virgil and Remy start making dinner for them all as they crammed into Deceit's apartment. Roman stares up at his ex-boyfriend with the first civil conversation they'd had since their breakup. Deceit, cradling a hot cup of coffee, pauses mid-sip to look at the other man, whose eyes are always so beautiful. "You seemed to know,"

"I always know," Deceit muttered "I hate knowing, I hate having to know I wish...I wish I didn't," His two normal eyes blink whilst the slitted golden one stares unblinking. It almost looks like glass or marble the way it always shines but never tears and never stops seeing. "It wasn't a forest, a forest was just a mirage for people like Logan who are too curious and too greedy for knowledge to resist," He rests the cup of coffee down, Roman's body leans towards his as if on autopilot. "Those weren't trees, they were in some way like Virgil but a different type of Demon, a soul-eater, they feed off people's greed and everyone is greedy for something," 

"But not you?"

Deceit looks at Roman with an exhausted look as though he's missing something obvious. Roman is always missing something obvious, but for some reason this time it seems important. "I do, but I'm also not oblivious to what they are, I can see them, I can see through them and every entrance and exit and weakness, and more importantly what I'm greedy for is something that things like them can't touch, knowledge is easy and Logan was practically a buffet for them, but they couldn't touch Patton because he's not greedy at all, he's so entirely selfless that they would have burned trying to feed off of him," He's deflecting the topic. 

"What are you greedy for?" 

Deceit falls silent, he looks down at his feet. "Nothing important, Roman," _Love, to be loved, to touch something and not break it._ "Let's go see how dinner is coming along," Roman stares at Deceit and then shakes his head, his hand catching the other man's.

"Look Dee I know.."

"Please don't," It's so firm, so demanding and not at all how he usually sounds "I don't want to talk Roman, not about you or us or the thing I did, I won't forgive myself and neither will you and that's the way it has to be," A tense silence descends and Roman shakes his head in response to words he didn't want to hear "I can only say I'm sorry, but I know and I understand that doesn't repair what I did and I don't want it too, I deserve to be judged by you,"

"Yeah well, judge is my middle name," The exorcist whispers, but his hand doesn't move from the other man's "And one day I will forgive you," maybe he already has "But I want you to know that...the way you look at Logan," _Makes me jealous, makes my heart hurt_ "It's okay, you should go for it whilst you can," 

At that moment, the door opens and Logan pads into the room wearing Deceit's shirt that hangs off his much smaller body in a way that makes both of them blink slowly. His collarbones peaking out of a shirt so baggy that it slips off of his shoulders, his hair messy and fluffed in every which direction. He smiles at the two of them, and walks past them to the kitchen, and the remaining two exchange a look with Deceit exhaling shakily. "I will if you will," Deceit smirks after a long pause, and Roman for the first time in so long in his ex's presence, _laughs_.

"Maybe I will,"


	4. Heartbreak Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new hotel opened up across the road from Remy and Emile; it just appeared overnight, there hadn't even been a building there before. Curious, the gang go and investigate together, only to find there is no entrance or exit until they've found their rooms.

Roman, Patton and Virgil wandered into Remy and Emile's home and business with questions on their tongue. Logan is sat in the reception using the impossibly fast wi-fi that doesn't seem to extend to his room _quite_ as well, and Emile has just finished getting ready for his actual job (being a therapist to about four people who always seem to be confused about where they are) so he was stood in the foyer chatting to his husband. 

“Did you know that there’s another hotel, it’s just opened across the road?” Patton enquires. Remy frowns, symbolising that no, he did _not_ know and this most certainly will _not_ do. He doesn’t go as far as to express this because the door opens again and Deceit wanders in, coffee in hand, and then asks the exact same question. 

“No I didn’t,” The half-man, half-cat-man utters with an expression that can only be described as _grouchy_ on his face. “How did it even _get_ there?” He stands and walks to the door, taking the coffee off of Deceit on his way past, the DJ frowns at his now empty hand like a small animal with no sense of object permanence.

There is indeed a hotel there, and the huddle of strange men stare up at this even stranger occurrence with some sense of unease. Mainly because Remy is rather hotheaded and the thought of_ him_ having competition is unnerving, but also because it _is_ strange for there to be an entire hotel that wasn’t there before. 

Logan, who is somehow acclimatising, sighs and grabs his not-pen from his pocket to scribble something in a notebook and then pocket both of these objects in favour of wandering up to the door. “We should say hello,” The scientist decides for them all _despite_ the fact that at least four of them have other places to be today. 

“We should!” Patton agrees emphatically, with an air of confidence that everyone else (except Logan) is lacking at nine in the morning (Especially Deceit, who has just had his _whole_ coffee stolen off of him). 

And that, of course, is why they wandered through the large oak doors of 1950′s-style hotel, and once again, into some form of emotional trauma. And for the _second _time in a row it’s because Logan doesn’t quite know what to do with the _unending_ amount of lust for knowledge that he has, except to use it to get everyone _else_ in danger.

The inside has cream walls with wallpaper that looks too pristine, the carpets are a deep royal red and there are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The doors slam shut behind them, making them all jump as they stare into the large and empty foyer. “It’s pretty,” Logan remarks quietly, Remy slurps on the coffee with a narrowed glare directed to the scientist. Logan doesn’t notice. 

Emile wanders up to the front desk and taps on the little brass bell, it gives a _very_ timid ring and they wait in silence but, after _five minutes_, nobody comes. Deceit winces at the sudden migraine he’s experiencing and stares around the hotel. “We should get out of here,” He whispers “This place...it isn’t good,” He shivers as though witnessing something he shouldn’t, the way one witnesses a car crash or _anything_ as equally catastrophic.

But as they all turn around the entrance they had walked through is now just a door. “Not good at all,” Dee adds to his earlier sentence with an exasperated sigh of_ ‘really? again? We’re in another perilous situation?’_ You _know_, the sort of sigh a mother gives her child when they’ve dirtied clothes that have just been washed.

“Sorry,” Logan offers, but in all honesty he doesn’t seem very sorry at all, or afraid for that matter. “I suppose we should explore the hotel?” 

_“Absolutely not,” _Deceit and Virgil say, at the same time that Roman, Patton and Emile reply with _“Yes!”_ Remy slurps on his coffee with no opinion other than the fact he is sleep deprived and needs to finish his (stolen) coffee before he formulates any form of response that requires critical thought. He is however feeling a little better about the fact this hotel isn’t really a hotel, rather a potential death trap, because it means he has _no_ competition.

“Let’s just stick together,” Deceit speaks firmly, feeling uneasy because of one thing and one thing alone; he cannot see a _thing_ here. Like all of its past and present and future had been wiped from its walls and its carcass, bleached of any sort of moments that have or would have happened, is hollow of time. His sight doesn’t work, which means someone or_ something_ had planned for him to be here.

They all head up the large wooden stairs, which creak under their weight as though protesting their company. On the first floor there is a long corridor, the walls are the same cream and the carpet the same red, and it goes on for miles, much further than it had appeared from the outside. “Trans-dimensional engineering?” Logan offers into the sudden hush that falls, every breath_ too_ loud. Emile looks at him with the exact expression a child gives their teacher when they don’t know the answer “The inside is kept in a dimension other than the one we were in, the outside is just a shell, a mirage if you like, when you stepped through the doors you stepped into this dimension but...also the one you were in at the same time,” This did _not_ ease Emile’s confusion. “Like Roman’s bag,” he added, and Emile nods in understanding.

“Do you think there’s anyone in the rooms?” Patton asks, stepping forward down the corridor, straying _foolishly_ from the others. 

“Possibly,” They glance at Logan once he had spoken, and then at Patton who had now started to wander down the hall. He pauses for a moment and stands very, _very_ still, before turning sharply to stare at one of the rooms. “Wait, Patton I wouldn’t...” But it’s too late, his hand is around the golden doorknob and he’s pushing it open with a fierce determination like he can hear or see something that they _cannot_ hear or see. “Patton!”

They race towards him and stare into the room. There’s someone else staring back. 

Patton stumbles backwards with his eyes wide, his nails scratching against the wood to get away from the stranger, whose teeth are too sharp and his eyes too dark and that _grin_...Logan shudders as Roman and Virgil pull Patton back away from the malicious figure. The baker is shaking, his hands trembling to find some familiarity, they land on Roman and hold him close whilst he shakes. It doesn’t take them long to realise he’s crying. “How..._How_ can he be here, how can he...?” He repeats this, stammering against his lover’s chest.

Roman lets him cry, rubbing his back and uttering for words of consolation as Virgil waits patiently, worried, by his side. 

“It wasn’t real right, it’s not him?” Patton whispers as he manages to prise away, taking shaky breaths to calm himself down. They all look at Logan who shakes his head. 

“It’s...it’s unlikely,” He confirms, clearing his throat “It seems unlikely that whoever he may be has crossed dimensions to sit in a room you may not have opened to simply smile menacingly at you,” He feels a chill run through him, he doesn’t want to know how many times the sweet baker had seen that grin in reality. Or what it meant. 

Patton seems to ease at his words and gives Logan a small smile “You have a big brain so you’re probably right, yeah?” Logan knows that logically he can promise nothing, but Patton’s bright eyes are looking at him like he’s a lighthouse in a storm, so he nods mutely in response. Patton’s arms wrap around him and for just a moment Logan feels as though there is a weight against his chest but...not in an unpleasant way, no, it’s the sort of weight you get when a cat sits on you. Warm, _homely_. Like you’ve been chosen.

“We probably each have rooms then, right?” Virgil asks tersely. A cold silence descends and they exchange quiet and scared looks. Logan pauses before he answers, but honestly he just isn’t sure. If his previous hypothesis is correct and the hotel is forcing them to relive traumatic memories then it stands to reason it would not just attack Patton. 

“It’s possible, yes,” They all stand very still. 

“No offence,” Virgil starts “But if I’m going to have to relive the worst moment of my very long life, then I’d rather you not be there to see it,” They look between each other, not wanting Virgil to walk off alone but also not wanting to put him in an even more uncomfortable position.

“I understand,” Patton says gently, and he does to some extent. “I think that if the hotel is playing a game, an _emotional_ game, then once it’s had its fun it will probably let us go, right? That’s what people do when they want to get people to feel bad but there’s only so much fun to be had...” Logan’s heart feels like it’s suffocating itself in his chest. “So we find our rooms, and then it might let us go,” 

Remy, who is finally looking less of a zombie, glances at his husband and then at the cup of coffee in his hand “I’d rather not have an audience, either,” His words are so uncharacteristically solemn and so is his tone “Except Emile of course, Emile’s always invited to my trauma party,” His husband smiles and squeezes his hand before looking ahead “I don’t know why but I feel like my room is on the third floor so, I’m going up a few more flights, we’ll meet back in the foyer when we’re all done, right?” 

They all agree, and soon, they find themselves splitting; Virgil wanders off alone, whilst Remy and Emile head back to the steps to take a few more flights up into the tall, _everlasting_ staircase. Roman looks at Deceit and then at Patton “Virgil’s right, I don’t...I don’t want you to see Pat,”_ It hurts to see someone you love in pain_. Patton smiles and nods. Logan offers him his arm with a raised eyebrow and the baker takes it “I’ll see you later okay?” 

“I love you,” 

“I love you too,” 

Logan and Dee have their own type of smiles; Logan’s is soft and happy that the two know their own boundaries enough, that Patton knows how to control his fears, that they love each other so greatly. Deceit’s is sad, it’s scared and it’s lonely as he thinks of the hundred reasons that he could never deserve that, he hasn’t forgiven himself and he will _not _forgive himself. 

But then he and Roman are alone, sharing an awkward glance as they stare at an empty hallway and each other and a thousand memories that cannot be seen left buried in the bones of this hotel. There’s this lingering feeling of everything they could’ve said, should’ve said and then, everything that they did say and everything they wish they hadn’t. 

When you find out someone cheated on you, there is no amicable way for how you are feeling, no friendly forgiveness for the heartache they caused, no wonder in the feeling of being _betrayed_. But Roman is getting too old now to hang onto the past of a teenager who got his heart broken.

He shakes away this thought and clears his throat “After you,” Roman offers an amicable smile, his long hair tucked behind his pierced ear as they start down the too-long hallway. He doesn’t want to admit that he knows what’s going to be on the other side of Dee’s door, and wishes the walk to be longer as dread settles in his stomach. 

When they finally get there, after several long turns, Dee stands very still. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up and over his arms as if a sudden breeze had hit him. He stares at the golden door with slightly cracked paint and knows he is about to address something he’d been dodging for _years_. His hand wraps around the reflective door handle. He turns it, and pushes it open. 

Roman had known, but he still felt sick when he sees his own face staring back at him as the snake-like man holds the door open with shaking hands. “I’m sorry,” Dee whispers, his voice cracking and fragile “I’m so sorry,” There’s a low pause before Roman can’t quite handle staring at himself; him, but not quite, a little younger and more naive and so _angry_. 

“Sorry doesn’t take it back,” The fake Roman huffs, the memory of Roman, a shadow or silhouette of time left in the skin of Dee’s mind, his dark eyes afire with something _so_ potent and terrible. 

“I know, I don’t want it too,” Deceit whispers, flinching slightly as if fearing a slap, before Roman, the real Roman, grabs him by the shirt collar and tugs him back into the hallway. 

“Then what _do_ you want?” He whispers. 

Static fills their ears in a silence so tense and so fragile at the same time. Dee’s eyes are prickling with tears as the third stares without wavering, moving, searching as if he’s desperate to see something other than the right now. He shakes his head and steps away “It’s not fair to say and it’s not fair to ask,” The taller_ finally_ speaks but his voice has gone cold with his own unending self-hatred. 

“Don’t treat me like a child, for_ fuck’s_ sake Dee,” Roman is frustrated and tired and..._scared_. His heart hurts under the weight of love that he cannot shake because he always had loved Dee and no matter how much pain stands where that man once stood...there would always _be_ love. Roman can’t rewrite his own emotions, he falls in love with the first pretty man that smiles at him and falls _hard_, like a rock sinking into waves that are too rough to find solid ground. “Just tell me, for once, the truth,” 

“I love you,” 

A beat, a pause, a soft exhale that speaks so many different languages. “I know,” _What_ a response to receive. They’re both setting themselves up for pain, they know this, but they’re adults that get to decide when they make bad decisions. “I love you too,”

“You shouldn’t,” And Roman laughs, he laughs with disbelief and an awkwardness of a man who doesn’t know what to say, he laugh and laughs until he is _crying_. Then his laughs turn sour because he got the truth and he hates it, he hated walking into that room, a room that does not lie about heartbreak and knowing that Dee’s biggest heartbreak is the pain that he caused Roman. That he lives and thinks about that every single day. For years. Why doesn’t that feel like an achievement when he was the one that was hurt?

“Why the fuck didn’t you just not do it?” His choked off words come out angry and hard and bitter and they taste like the sound of hailstone _smashing_ windows open. “Would it have been so hard? To just not do it? To not cheat on me? _Why_ do I deserve _your_ heartache when you already gave me all of mine?” He curses loudly and kicks at a wall, frustrated, in tears. His words taste like saline and a cold beach in winter. “Fuck you,” Roman’s anger is nothing beautiful. He feels dizzy. He feels...cold and hot at the same time. “Fuck _you, _Dee,” 

And Deceit can only leans shakily against the wall as he shakes his head with no idea what he’s supposed to say or do or if there even is something that he can say or do. Can you really fix something you shattered long ago? Find the fragments lost by time and glue them back together? “I’m sorry, I know...” He whispers , swallowing and choking on his own words as he tries to keep himself from breaking “What I did was bad, I don’t expect you back, I don’t expect..._anything_ from you, Roman,” 

There is an irony of feeling small against someone you are a head taller than, as Dee leans against the wall and Roman stands in front of him in a vicious cocktail of emotions. The anger flickers, it falters, and Roman sighs in defeat, resting against his ex-boyfriend because he’s suddenly too shaky to stand alone. 

“I know you don’t,” His head still rests against Deceit’s collarbone the way it used to “I know you don’t, and I hate that you don’t,” He leans back “Because I loved you and you loved me and it would be so, so much easier if that wasn’t the case, if you were a horrible person who treated me like shit but you weren’t, otherwise you were so wonderful it felt like a dream,” He wipes his eyes “You did one thing that really hurt me, years ago and now I’m still so angry with you because you didn’t show me you loved me, you taught me that love is just a heartache waiting to happen,” 

Deceit is stunned into a quiet silence as the walls seems to close in around him “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to be you,” He whispered “But you’re the only person I’ve ever loved so who else would it be? What were you expecting?” And Roman doesn’t know, he has no semblance of an idea of what he was expecting, then _and _now.

“You took so much more than I was trying to give you,” Roman whispers, voice soft in his own sadness “So much more,” He wiped his eyes “I don’t understand why I’m angry with myself when I did nothing wrong,”

“You’re not angry,” Deceit manages out as best as he can because Roman’s head is resting on his chest like a wonderful, suffocating weight and he doesn’t remember how to breathe with someone he’d loved so much so close to him. How do you breathe when there are flowers made of heartache growing between the bones of your ribs? How do you look them in the eyes and lie?

How did he look Roman in the eyes and _lie_. They used to be something greater than this hurricane, this destruction this…_terrible _idea. What a terrible idea love turned out to be, who willingly subjects themselves to the possibility of the tears and the cold feeling in his own veins? 

“I tried,” Deceit’s voice is catching every notch in his throat “I tried so hard to move on, to find someone else but how could I? How do I fall in love again knowing I can _ruin_ it just like that?” Roman leans back to look up at the man he’d known, vulnerable and insecure; he supposes that never changed and Dee is just as good of a liar as his name would suggest. “I see everything Roman, everything that should happen, everything that has ever happened I see that every day, I know how a relationship is going to end before it even begins, how…how do I just fall in love when I _know _that?”

“You always knew?” Roman asked, his eyes looking up at his past lover with a new kind of sadness “Every time I told you I loved you and you _knew _how it would end?”

“I can’t turn it off,” He gestures to his eye “I just hoped it was a_ could_ happen instead of a _will_ happen, not everything is so fixed, sometimes I see multiple futures or none at all,” His back is pressed against the wall like he’s afraid of the way Roman’s hand sits on his forearm too familiarly. “This place is switching it off, I can’t see anything but what’s in front of me,” _‘And never before have I wished to see something other than your tear-stained cheeks,’ _

“Good,” Roman muttered. “It’s not healthy for you,” Dee snorts, lifting a hand to wipe his own teary eyes “I’m serious,” But he’s smiling too, the way they used; when life was life and neither a dream nor a _horrendous _nightmare. “When you see me now what do you see? With that eye of yours?”

“Well, different things, different futures,”

“Are any of them happy?”

_Gods, _isn’t that the million dollar question? But then Dee knows this is it, this is the converging point where all those futures choose their course and he has no way to see how he gets to them; what a _fucked-up_ irony that the one time he wants his sight is the one time he cannot have it? He blinks, his lips part and they quirk just a little as he takes in those god-awful puppy eyes he’d fallen headfirst into. “Yes”

_Roman’s smile could light up a million rooms,_ Deceit thinks, _and a million stars could bow to its brilliance_. He smiles for the first time like _maybe _he isn’t so angry, as though the past they’d had didn’t matter so much anymore. It does, he hasn’t forgiven Deceit even if maybe he will one day, but he does at least know that change is a passage of time and not much else.

The leaves grow in spring and fall in autumn, people make mistakes and change. And Roman knows that it hurts more to keep denying half of his heart than it ever did to be cheated on; for the most part it wasn’t even the act that had upset him, it was what it meant to him, that he wasn’t trustworthy enough to be effectively communicated _with_. It was also not as though he never did anything wrong, at the time they’d both been young and dumb and fiercely determined to fuck each other over and maybe, maybe Roman had pushed once too many.

Maybe they’re both different people now.

Not teenagers, or anywhere close, adults and trying their best. Maybe it’s time to move on, try life again. Roman wants to try _him _again, not because he misses him but because missing someone is different from craving who they are right down to their soul.

Roman shakes his head and steps back, but not today, he needs time to think properly . “Then one day I hope I get to see it, now let’s find my room,”

\--

Remy is seven different types of jumpy right now, the first is caffeine-induced, the second is genuine fear and the third is the creak of floorboards as he tries to walk quietly through this too-old and too-big hotel. “Whatever it is,” Emile mutters to him, squeezing his hand “It’s okay,” And when his husband says those words, jumpy becomes just a word, because nothing can calm him quite like his partner’s caring eyes and smile.

He stops halfway down a corridor that seems to go on for miles, standing very still as he feels a tug at his body, like a magnet to metal. Remy turns with a deep breath and stares at the door, before he opens it with one quick movement. He stands very still as he looks onto the other side, blinking slowly as his eyes turn glassy. “Of course,” He mutters, a humourless laughs bubbling past the threshold. “What else would it have been?”

Emile stares over his shoulder with wide eyes and a tight throat before he can’t handle what he’s witnessing any longer and turns away. Remy walks back into the hallway, closing the door and staring at his feet. He breathes shallowly before nodding, coming to terms with something that had happened so long ago but still hurts, loss always hurts, it has no expiry date even ten years later. But he at least knows how to handle this sadness; it’s one he’s tackled before. He wraps his arms around his husband and buries his face in his neck, inhaling and exhaling with calculated breaths. “I’m sorry Rem,”

“It’s...okay,” Remy replies, in a way that says he _is_ and he_ isn’t_, okay. Okay is just a word people use when they don’t know what else to say, really, okay is a filled silence because there are no other words to add, a static TV screen that people have _forgotten _to turn off. “It was a long time ago,” He pulls back and rubs his eyes, a bittersweet smile stitched to his lips. “I’ve gotten used to it now,”

Not “I’m over it,” or “I’m fine,” those would both be lies. Losing a family member you loved is a hard ordeal no matter the age you were. When Remy was 7 he’d lost his brother to a static idea of happiness found on the backs of prescription bottles, and been the one to find the cold when nobody else was paying attention to an absent person with much more absent eyes. He’s gotten used to the sadness, the memories, the flashbacks and the unending feeling of dread of finding your brother unmoving on the floor. But not even time can heal such an early trauma.

Perhaps this is why he cannot sleep at night.

“We should find yours,” Remy finally breaks the quiet as he gets out of his own head. “Come on,” Emile doesn’t look scared, he doesn’t even flinch because he knows that nothing is going to be quite so scary with Remy, and also his heartbreaks have never really been that bad.

Well, most of them anyway.

The two wander down the hallway and Emile feels like he knows where he’s going as though he’s walking to work instead of a slightly spooky hotel. 

When he gets there he knows what’s waiting on the other side, he’s not had his heart broken many times before; at least not bad enough that it had left an impression. But heartbreak never really hurt Emile enough because he’s had Remy by his side.

You’re a whole lot braver, a whole lot _stronger_, when you are not alone.

He pushes his shoulders back and raises his chin defiantly as he wraps his hand around the doorknob and then opens the door with a purpose. He was right of course about what it was, _who_ it was. Two elderly people, a woman and a man with firm expressions and opinions that he didn’t care for; Emile is many things, but _afraid_ of homophobia is not one of them. He listens to their violent words and then snorts a little “I’ve dealt with people like this my entire life mister hotel,” He snorts, rolling his eyes “It’s been a long time since I’ve cried over that sort of heartbreak,”

The door closes as he steps back out into the hallway, barely an image of discomfort on his face, whilst Remy smiles proudly at the bravery he’d fallen in love with so long ago.

The two of them had ran off together that night. In the middle of the night they’d taken to the road with nothing but their clothes, their bank’s worth of money and a beaten up car. Then they’d found themselves here, somewhere where misfit is just an ordinary citizen, and sure you might get hit by an inter dimensional hotel every now and then, but no one will bat their eyelids if you’re gay. Sometimes this town choses you before you chose it.

Remy squeezes Emile’s hand and his lover smiles back, not at all scared, not at all bothered; he hadn’t been that night either. Emile rarely swears but the entire neighbourhood heard the “Fuck you!” he shouted angrily at his parents, a spitfire in pastel hair dye and a soft woollen sweater. As Emile had always known, you really are braver when you know you’re not alone; and for most of his life he hasn’t been.

\--

Logan and Patton had been walking for quite a while now, staring up at the walls as they look between each other “I have no idea where I’m supposed to be,” Logan admits softly. “None of these are particularly calling out to me,” He sighs, scratching the back of his head in confusion. Perhaps he is an outlier, a mistake. Perhaps he isn’t supposed to be here.

“I’m sure you’ll find it,” They keep walking, but every hallway seems to just lead to the stairs and Logan doesn’t really feel like he should be going up or down the way Remy had. “Or maybe we’re not supposed to be here?” Patton voices finally as he stares down the stairs. After a moment he sighs and starts walking back down, it leads to the reception “I guess we just sit in the waiting room,”

“But I didn’t find my room?” Logan mutters with a confused expression “I thought that was the point?”

“Well, maybe you’ve just not had your heart broken,” The scientist considers this carefully before a look of realisation crosses his expression. He hadn’t. He hadn’t even had the time to get his heartbroken. He’d never fallen in love, never loved anyone enough and lived in textbooks and chemicals the way a bird makes their nest.

Logan had never had his heart broken. What a _horrid _thing to realise, that you’ve never loved enough to have someone break your heart.

\--

Virgil is anxious. This is nothing new of course, anxious is his part-time job, his favourite hobby and the first and last thing he does every day. But this is the sort of anxious that had his stomach twisting. He doesn’t know why there’s a dread in the pit of his stomach, as in he doesn’t know what specifically about this is making him anxious. He’s a demon and demons, _categorically _speaking, do not get _heartbroken_.

He doesn’t know what’s going to be on the other side of his door as he walks with a weighted step and aching bones and the knowledge that he is about to confront something that he himself does not know, how large or how terrifying or how non-competitively _sad _it is going to be. _Sad is just a word, _he tells himself, _it doesn’t have to mean something_. 

Demon he may be, _invulnerable_ he is _not_; he’s lived in this skin suit for many years now, among Humans, among…_Patton_ and _Roman_ and people who have taught him no emotion is _just_ a word. He had known this before and forgotten, so Patton taught him all of his sad and all of his happy, and Roman all of his love and anguish. He is enough Human now, to be more than just anger and fear again, as he hadn’t been for decades before.

Human is not a category in their world; it is a feeling, an innate sense of right and wrong and love and hate. Human is a knowledge _and_ a heartbreak.

The dark-eyed Demon stares at the end of a hallway at a door that is cracked and blackened as though it had been torched to the ground but the wood had refused to succumb to the flames. Virgil knows this is his door by the invisible rope dragging him towards it and the broken pounding of his heart in his chest. He steps towards it. There is silence and silence and _silence_.

Virgil opens the door with a shaky hand, pushing it open a little and staring into the beyond. Into the feeling of a cold hand on his back and nails dragging on his skin and the look of someone he tried most days not to remember. He swallows a little “I’m sorry,” He whispers “I’m sorry I didn’t come back,” Unable to hold back the guilt he’d been carrying for a fair few Human decades now.

A boy stares up at him, bright blue eyes wide and a small smile on his face. “Verge!” He giggles, a small hand reaching up to rest on his hand, ignorant to Virgil’s broken expression. The demon swallows and squats to hold his hand out, the little boy wraps his arms around him.

“How did you recognise me kiddo?” Virgil sniffles a little, “I don’t look the same,” The child laughs and places his hand on Virgil’s chest over where his heart is. Of course, he’d always know. “One day I’ll find you,” He wipes his eyes “But you’re not you, you’re an image, not real,” He lets go and steps back, shaking his head “You wouldn’t even be a child anymore,” The boy’s smile falls and his eyes tint a little black. “No, you’re not him,” He steps back through the door at the boy whose teeth are a little too sharp and if you look too closely you can see the way the air crackles around him.

“One day I’ll find you kiddo, but today isn’t that day,” And with that he slides through the door and lets it fall shut behind him. The hallway has changed and he can see the stairs through his tears. He staggers towards them, running into Emile and Remy as he does, practically tripping down the stairs to get to the warm feeling of love. Anything but that, anything but _him_.

Patton’s arms find their way around him as he takes deep breaths and remembers where his heart is, where his head is.

Now just to wait for Roman and Deceit.

\--

“I have a long list of heartbreaks so I’m curious to know which is the worst,” Roman hums to himself, fingertips trailing across the papered walls as his legs move of their own accord, seemingly knowing where they’re going. He certainly doesn’t know in his mind, so at least the rest of him is controlling some sort of brain cell.

“You’re horrendously chipper,” Deceit grumbles a little, but the smile on Roman’s face can’t keep him grumpy. Because he knows now, and Dee knows too, that things are changing and are not going to stay the same. Roman knows he was angry for a reason, but whether that reason is slowly crumbling is another answer.

The thing is, Roman is aware he doesn’t have to forgive Deceit, the issue is that he knows the Dee doesn’t want to be forgiven. It’s been years and he’s still rolling in his mistake and to Roman that just doesn’t seem healthy, for either of them to be gripping on a hatred that isn’t real. He doesn’t hate Dee for cheating on him years ago, and the more time he spends in his presence the more he realises he probably didn’t hate him at all. Angry, sad, and many other things, but he loves him too _much_ to hate him. There’s no hate in love, the two are not compatible and Roman has always found that a strange thing people say; that you love someone but hate them too.

Dee fucked up. He holds himself accountable for that, and Roman holds him accountable.

But there’s a time to move on and live. And now is that time. Maybe it’s Logan and his pretty hair and pretty cheeks and lovely eyes and the fact they both want to take whatever he’ll give, maybe it’s because he knows that Patton is worried about them both. Maybe it’s simply because his anger comes from the fact every time he looks at Deceit he feels that thundering of his heart that most people get from new crushes.

Yes, he decides, it’s time to move on. Not right now at this instance, but in the near future. There’s a life to be lived without all these negative emotions.

But that thought process dissolves as he finds himself standing very still, eyes trained on the wooden hotel door. He lets out a deep sigh, cheeks puffing out as he does so. They both stand very still and Dee looks down at his feet as though he dreads knowing what’s on the other side. But as the door opens and he can’t bear to not know, he looks up and is pleasantly surprised.

He’s not the person on the other side.

He does _know who _it is however.

Roman blinks slowly before muttering a quiet “Oh, I see,” He hums a little, before nodding “That does make sense,” But he isn’t crying, he isn’t angry, he just stares unblinking, before clearing his throat and moving out into the hallway. The door closes behind him and the two stand in silence as Roman stares blankly at the carpet. There’s not an ounce of energy there at all, for a moment he barely looks like himself, devoid of everything that makes Roman…._Roman_.

“Remus?” Roman clears his throat lightly as Deceit asks the question with uncertainty. “Roman what happened to him isn’t your fault,” He knows this logically, of course he does, but Roman can never quite live without blaming himself for something. Another unhealthy habit he can’t seem to shake. “I’m sorry,”

“No it’s…it’s fine,” It’s not, Dee knows this now. He just never quite realised how Roman’s twin brother’s…possession had affected him.

Possession in the literal sense. Remus, Roman’s twin brother, had been possessed by a Demon at a young age. And now, as an adult it’s as though there’s little left of the brother there had been anymore. No matter how hard the man tried to learn, to understand, even Virgil had tried to help, nothing seemed to be able to shift the Demon from it’s vessel. He’s not even a terrible demon, a little odd and _overtly_ sexual but otherwise not planning the apocalypse, he just really likes the flesh suit he’d adopted and grown in like a normal person would a house.

The two stare at each other a moment, before Roman sighs “I need a hug,” He mutters and Dee hesitantly opens his arms. The two still fit together like a warm glove in winter, Roman can feel Dee’s heart thudding lightly between his ribs and finds the sound as comforting as he once did. It’s nice, it’s…_pleasant_. When Roman finally eases away he looks down at his feet with an uncharacteristically shy expression “I did miss you, you know,” Then he shakes his head and starts to walk away “Come on, let’s get back to the others,”

Everyone is in various states of upset, Emile is perhaps the only one who looks unbothered and Roman feels like someone _that_ bubbly is either lying, stronger than they look, or simply has never had too bad a heartbreak. Remy is quiet, his eyes open like he’s forcing them to look at something, not wanting to close them; Roman decides he_ doesn’_t want to know what he’s seen. Logan looks upset, he’s pacing and muttering under his breath, eyebrows furrowed. Patton still looks a little pale, but he’s busy tending to Virgil who is _crying_. Immediately Roman stands a little straighter and makes his way over to his lover, holding him close and pressing kisses to the top of his dark hair.

There’s a soft clunk noise, and when they look up the doors have returned.

The group all scramble to get outside, standing on the gravel pavement with one last glare at the hotel, before they cross the road towards Remy and Emile’s hotel. “I don’t know how to explain to my clients I got trapped in another dimension,” the psychiatrist snorts, squeezing Remy’s hand.

“Me neither,” Patton sighs, glancing at his watch, “it’s nearly sun down Dee you need to get to the…Dee?” They all pause and look around, but Dee is on the other side of the road still stood in front of the hotel, two of his eyes closed as the third searches frantically for something. Roman pauses and then sighs.

“You guys go ahead,” He speaks gently, offering his partners a small smile “You’ve had a long day, I’ll make sure he’s okay, make sure Virgil is okay,” They glance hesitantly between them before Virgil makes a noise of agreement despite his current state, he understands they’ve probably talked about a lot that needs a resolution. 

“See you later Roman,” Emile offers with his kind smile “Good luck,” And then they all trail away. Roman crosses back over the road carefully to stand in front of Dee. He rests a hand on the man’s arm and feels him jump, his eyes darting open to stare. He sighs with relief once he realises it’s just Roman, with his dark eyes much softer than he is used to seeing them.

“Sorry,” The serpent-man’s eyes look sad, he, in general, looks so _very_ sad. Like he knows something he isn’t supposed to know.

“It’s okay,” Roman pauses, eyes searching as he tucks a stray piece of hair behind his ear “What are you looking for?” Deceit’s cheeks flush and the smaller man smiles like he knows the answer, eyes avoiding each other before they finally meet again. _“Fuck it,_” He whispers under his breath.

“What?” 

Deceit doesn’t get much further as Roman’s lips press to his own, sweetly and carefully and shyly. But fuck, he can’t feel his own heart because it’s beating too fast, and his body feels like fireworks are shooting in his veins. They both pause as the world slows around them, the glow of streetlights illuminating their bodies in the carefully setting sun. Then they both break, they part and Roman sighs “I forgot how much I missed that,” he muttered “We’ll talk, eventually, go do your radio show, I’ve got a Demon to look after,”

Deceit grins and nods, wondering how in all the futures he’d seen he hadn’t see _that_ coming.


End file.
